May 7, 2012

Working with writers.

My friend Lee Horton, sports reporter for the Peninsula Daily News,
recently wrote a letter to a group of fellow former copywriters that
included a great description of what it's like to work with writers. So accurate, so endearing:

If we never had a
conversation about [ending a sentence with a preposition], I guarantee
we could have. Jessica would probably be okay with using them at the end
of a sentence, but Crystal might have some reservations. I haven't
decided what Jordan would think about it, but he would express his view
passionately. Then somebody would bring up the next potluck. Amanda
would be excited about that, but she would be against placing
prepositions at the end of a sentence. Jessica doesn't care, she's still
okay with it. Kenneth would then take his graduate degree out and
place it on top of his desk. He would then eloquently explain the
arguments of both sides, including their origins. He concludes that we
are all free to end sentences with prepositions, even though he never
does. Crystal reminds us that it is time to talk about potlucks, and Emily screams.

Brilliant and accurate caricatures of some of my favorite people. Our lives were driven by potlucks and grammar.

I stole this entry from my other friend, Kenneth. Follow his blog. It's good.

For the record, I fully support ending a sentence with a preposition. To quote Churchill,"This is just the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put."